Randall Museum, Corona Heights: urban families

Corona Heights typifies balancing act of S.F. families

Updated 8:30 am, Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A visitor traverses the craggy rocks that crown Corona Heights and its panoramic views of San Francisco.

A visitor traverses the craggy rocks that crown Corona Heights and its panoramic views of San Francisco.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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The Randall Museum at Corona Heights Park, with its free admission, exhibits and hands-on lessons such as this one on gopher snakes, left, is a huge draw for families.

The Randall Museum at Corona Heights Park, with its free admission, exhibits and hands-on lessons such as this one on gopher snakes, left, is a huge draw for families.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Tourists Joel Schenk (left), Adam Simon and Sophie Michaux, along with pal Azat Fishyan, soak in the top of Corona Heights.

Tourists Joel Schenk (left), Adam Simon and Sophie Michaux, along with pal Azat Fishyan, soak in the top of Corona Heights.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Vivian Carey (center) and her mother, Julie, fly a kite they made in a Saturday drop-in class at the Randall Museum, which has called Corona Heights Park home since 1951.

Vivian Carey (center) and her mother, Julie, fly a kite they made in a Saturday drop-in class at the Randall Museum, which has called Corona Heights Park home since 1951.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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A sign points the way to the attractions of Corona Heights in San Francisco, with some just a few steps away.

A sign points the way to the attractions of Corona Heights in San Francisco, with some just a few steps away.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Corona Heights isn't just for people and kids, as dog walker Jeff Chebul plays with some of his four-legged clients.

Corona Heights isn't just for people and kids, as dog walker Jeff Chebul plays with some of his four-legged clients.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Visitors take in the view from the top of Corona Heights on August 10, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Visitors take in the view from the top of Corona Heights on August 10, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Sydney Kerpelman, 3 and a half, flies a kite she made in a Saturday Drop-In Science class at the Randall Museum on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Sydney Kerpelman, 3 and a half, flies a kite she made in a Saturday Drop-In Science class at the Randall Museum on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Jeff Newell, a docent at the Randall Museum teaches visitors about a gopher snake on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Jeff Newell, a docent at the Randall Museum teaches visitors about a gopher snake on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Vivian Carey, 3, and her mother Julie, center, along with other visitors to the Randall Museum, learn about a gopher snake held by docent Jeff Newell at the Randall Museum on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif. less

Vivian Carey, 3, and her mother Julie, center, along with other visitors to the Randall Museum, learn about a gopher snake held by docent Jeff Newell at the Randall Museum on August 10, 2013 in the Corona ... more

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Visitors from Boston Adam Simon, left, Joel Schenk, center left, and Sophie Michaux, right, along with their friend Azat Fishyan, drink and enjoy the view at the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. less

Visitors from Boston Adam Simon, left, Joel Schenk, center left, and Sophie Michaux, right, along with their friend Azat Fishyan, drink and enjoy the view at the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San ... more

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Sunlight is seen through fog on eastern parts of the city at dusk on August 15, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Sunlight is seen through fog on eastern parts of the city at dusk on August 15, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Pavel Sedlar, a visitor from Czech Republic, traverses the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Pavel Sedlar, a visitor from Czech Republic, traverses the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Visitors from Boston Sophie Michaux, left and Adam Simon, right, along with their friend Azat Fishyan, center, drink beers and enjoy the view at the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. less

Visitors from Boston Sophie Michaux, left and Adam Simon, right, along with their friend Azat Fishyan, center, drink beers and enjoy the view at the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, ... more

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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The top of a chain link fence surrounding a dog area is seen on August 15, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

The top of a chain link fence surrounding a dog area is seen on August 15, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Corona Heights Park at the intersection of Roosevelt and Museum Ways is seen from the top of the hill on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Corona Heights Park at the intersection of Roosevelt and Museum Ways is seen from the top of the hill on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Pavel Sedlar, a visitor from Czech Republic, poses for a photograph at the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Pavel Sedlar, a visitor from Czech Republic, poses for a photograph at the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Ella Schumer, 6, center, works to glaze a pot with the help of instructor Kaitlin Trataris, left, during a Saturday Drop-In Ceramics class at the Randall Museum on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of San Francisco, Calif. less

Ella Schumer, 6, center, works to glaze a pot with the help of instructor Kaitlin Trataris, left, during a Saturday Drop-In Ceramics class at the Randall Museum on August 10, 2013 in the Corona Heights area of ... more

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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A visitor ascends a set of stairs near the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

A visitor ascends a set of stairs near the top of Corona Heights on August 15, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Pete Kiehart, The Chronicle

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Randall Museum, Corona Heights: urban families

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The Randall Museum and its Corona Heights setting show San Francisco at its kid-friendly best, as Susan Olsen knows well. There are model trains in the basement of one, craggy rocks at the top of the other, an abundance of attractions and distractions - all free - in between.

But after two home break-ins, two long lines to enroll her son in kindergarten and too many small irritations to count, Olsen and her husband are looking north to Marin.

"The challenges of living here can be considerable," said Olsen, who has a 6-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. "Every step just gets harder."

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That family-level decision - to stay in the city or move to the suburbs - is a cultural fault line of 21st century San Francisco. The pleasures of urban life, the diversity and freshness and edge, are balanced against the pressure of everything from finding a parking space to enrolling in public school.

The pull outward is undeniable: Only 13.4 percent of San Francisco households in 2010 included children under 18, according to the U.S. census. In 1960, the number was 1 in 4. In a city survey this spring, 35 percent of parents with children age 5 or younger said they were "very" or "somewhat" likely to move out of San Francisco - though, on the bright side, that's down from 45 percent in 2005.

The issue kicks in with extra force when families need more space but have few options in a city where the median sales price of a home tops $800,000.

That's the case with Toni and Christian Noto, who live in the Castro and added a bed to the dining room of their apartment after their son was born. Now he's 3, attending a Potrero Hill preschool that's a 20-minute drive away, and they're wondering what to do next.

"There's such a neat quality to kids who grow up in the city," said Toni Noto, who moved from New York a decade ago. "If you don't have the money, it's really hard."

City's gentler side

The payoff comes in spots such as the Randall, an uphill stroller ride for the Notos and a reminder that cities can have an innocent side.

The natural history museum opened in 1951 as the Josephine D. Randall Junior Museum. The name honored the city's longtime director of recreation who in 1928 first visited the hill, its jagged form caused by decades of quarrying that ended when kilns on its slopes exploded and collapsed during the 1906 earthquake.

"We immediately became enthused about it" as a potential park and playground and place for children, Randall told The Chronicle in 1958.

Exhibitions have changed since then, but the lure of the museum is the same: a place to widen the eyes of young children. They can gaze at animals no longer able to function in the wild, including a western bluebird with an injured wing. A seismometer shows what happens when they jump up and down. On Saturdays, they can pet animals and visit the HO-scale tracks that are owned by the private Golden Gate Model Railroaders.

"The little animals, the trains - he's nuts for anything with wheels," Noto said of her son. "And after the exhibits, there's room to play."

Another draw: The city-owned Randall remains free, a rare thing in a city where metered parking can cost $6 an hour and a family membership at the California Academy of Sciences is $199.

"It really is a throwback," Olsen said of the Randall. "The programs are so nice and then the kids love to hike around the park (Corona Heights). I don't know how many pictures I've sent their grandparents from there."

With families in mind

That range of options is the goal, according to the city official in charge.

"Young families can thrive here. Our mission is to try and make it easier for them to do so," said Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the city's Recreation and Park Department. "We don't want anyone leaving the city because they don't think their kids will get a fair shake."

Ginsburg and other boosters know parks aren't the key factor in whether a family stays or goes. Nor are housing expenses, necessarily. Schools are huge.

In Olsen's case, she waited 45 minutes in line to apply for her son's kindergarten, then was told she needed an original paper copy of her home insurance - even though that insurance had been arranged online. Another hour-long wait in line and the application was filed - only to learn later that her son had been assigned to another school.

Parents who dostick around aren't shy about making their case.

Sticking around

David is happy to describe how this city enriches children. They learn to navigate the landscape by public transit. They learn about diverse cultures and lifestyles by osmosis. As for schools, "the story out there, that public education is bad, is not our story at all."

At the same time, David acknowledged that getting into the system - that all-important first step - is "overly cumbersome and problematic. ... Parents are tested with how much they can live with uncertainty."

Noto can sense what lies ahead.

"Even the preschool process is exhausting," she said. "I grew up in the suburbs - they're boring. This city is a great place for kids. But I get frustrated."

She's not alone. Though on Corona Heights, it's easy to leave the frustration behind.

About the series

The Chronicle is retracing the steps of its 1958 "Hills of San Francisco" series - one hill at a time. Each Wednesday, Chronicle Urban Design Critic John King explores what individual peaks reveal about today's city. Find more images, an interactive map and previous installments in the Urban Landscapes blog at www.sfgate.com.

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